Thank You
by rkcaskett
Summary: Post Always. A different take on what happens next.


She lets out a sigh of relief as she watches the gate slowly roll back to admit her into the parking garage. The rain is still coming down hard, the wipers on high as she slowly makes her way through the open gate. Reaching up she hits the button again and sneaks a peek in the rearview mirror as she watches the gate close again. She pulls the BMW into the spot next to the Ferrari turning off the wipers, the lights and the radio. She cuts the engine and slowly pulls the key from the ignition.

She hadn't made it very far into Long Island when the rain had started to come down harder. Accompanied by the thunder and lightning a few minutes later. She got as far as Francis Lewis Boulevard exit where the expressway was known for flooding. She sat there in the inside lane, with a few other vehicles, all with their flashers on and the traffic piling up behind them. One adventurous sole decided to take a chance. His car stalled out about halfway through. Shaking her head she finally made her way off the exit ramp, got back onto the LIE heading westbound and back to the loft. She let out another sigh.

Today had been a huge milestone for all of them. Alexis' graduation. She's very proud of Alexis and she's proud of her son too. It was especially hard for him today. She knows that Richard is so proud of his only child and that he's in awe of her at times. But, she also knows that part of him is so hurt today too and that has nothing to do with Alexis going off to Columbia. It has everything to do with Beckett.

It was two nights ago that she had found him in his study nursing a glass of whiskey. The bottle of St. Miriam's sitting on his desk. She knew that he had headed over to Beckett's earlier. His goal was to get her to stop the investigation. She didn't have a good feeling about how that may have turned out as she watched him pour more whiskey into his glass.

"Richard," she said as she slowly walked into his office.

He didn't look up. He just stared at the glass at his hand tipping the glass back and forth. She watched him, her heart breaking for him.

"She's not stopping. She choose the case over me. Over us,"draining the glass and putting it back down on his desk. It was then that he finally looked at his mother.

"I told her everything. I told her, again, that I love her and she's still going to go after him. I told her I can't do this anymore. I can't watch her walk into this, knowing what they'll do. I'm done Mother."

"Richard. Maybe Kate will …..", but he never gave her a chance to finish.

"No. I can't do it." Clearing his throat as he got up from his chair, "I'm heading off to bed. I have calls to make tomorrow if you are heading out to the Hamptons and a meeting with Paula." He walks around the desk, kissing her on the cheek as he turns and walks into his bedroom. The door clicking softly behind him.

"Oh Richard."

Martha pulls herself out of the memory as she gets out of the car pulling her overnight bag with her. Maybe she can convince him to go out to the house tomorrow. Get him out of the city. He had planned to come out with Alexis and Paige later next week. So a few days early wouldn't matter.

She pushes the card key into the slot and the doors for the elevator open immediately. She steps in and pushes the button for the top floor. She's worried about how she'll find Richard. He seemed fine earlier when she dropped him off at the front door but she knew he wasn't fine at all. She checked her watch, as she stepped out of the elevator and noticed it was a little after 9pm. He should still be awake. A little chat and she'd convince him to go with her tomorrow morning. It would be the best thing for him.

She puts the key in the lock and steps inside closing the door behind her. She listens for a minute and places the overnight bag on the floor near the closet door. She looks around the loft and she takes off her jacket. The fireplace is still on along with the wall scones on the other side of the door. She can tell that the lamp on his desk is still on too. Again she listens but doesn't hear him moving around the loft. She's about to call out to him when she notices something on the floor.

She slowly walks over to the item on the floor. Bending down she picks up the leather jacket. It's wet. She's pretty sure that it's not Alexis' jacket. She's about to turn back to the closet when she sees a black shirt a few feet away. She picks up this item and it too, is wet. She wonders if Alexis came back to the loft. A few feet away she finds a shirt that she knows. As she bends down to pick up the shirt she is more than certain this was the same shirt she saw on her son earlier this evening. The faint hint of his cologne confirms it for her. She slowly starts putting the pieces together and realizes her son as a woman here with him.

She shakes her head, sad because this is how he's chosen to deal with his feelings about what happened with Beckett. Losing himself with a woman that's available to him but whom means nothing to him. She knows he's so much better than that and it seemed, for a while, that Kate Beckett had changed her son. He had become a better man in the last few years. That man seems to be gone now.

She finds a woman's black boot not far from his shirt and bends down to pick that item up too. At this point she can tell the items are heading towards his office. She might as well pick up these last few items and place them in the office. Just in case Alexis decides to come home later.

She finds the other black boot, Richard's belt and both his shoes at the office door. She quickly places the jacket over the back of his chair. The two shirts she lays over the back of the couch along with the belt. The shoes she drops the shoes in front of the chair. She walks over to the desk and reaches up to turn off the desk lamp. She takes a few steps towards the door but stops the minute she hears it. She shoots a look towards the closed bedroom door and she hears it a second time: laughter. She can hear the low tone of her son's, but the sound of the laughter mixed with his is a very distinctive sound and one that she has heard before in this loft many times. Kate.

A smile slowly grows and she looks back at the jacket on Richard's chair. She moves quickly towards the office door and latches it quietly. She quickly walks over to the small table behind the couch and pulls the remote for the fireplace from the draw; turning it off. Placing the remote back, she picks up her overnight bag as she uses the switch to turn off the wall scones. She makes her way quietly up the stairs and closes her door. Leaning back against the door she smiles again. Closing her eyes she says, "Thank you."


End file.
